Party by Pinterest

My husband and I hosted a wedding shower for our friends Haylie and Tim yesterday, and I wish the execs at Pinterest (does Pinterset have execs?) were here to see it.  From the menu to the decor, Pinterest influences were abound.  I was a little nervous about the weather forecast the night before the party, but we ended up with a gorgeous day, just right to eat, drink, and be merry...and play some cornhole too!

The guests of honor...and no, Haylie doesn't tower over Tim...she's standing on a step!

The littler (and fiestier) of Haylie's two flower girls

The bride and her minions

Festive tissue paper poms, courtesty of Carolyn 

They're still hanging in my trees...too pretty to take down! 

Fancied up the beverage station with a homemade felt sunflower

These sandwiches were quite the team effort...cucumber sandwiches courtesy of the mother of the groom, avocado chicken salad prepared by yours truly, assembled by Meghan.  Chalkboard signs made by Carolyn, Fancied by you-know-who. 

Soooooo thankful the bride took the rest of these strawberry cheesecake bars home with her!  Did not need those leftovers in my fridge on this boring, rainy day!  I made the cheesecake, Kevin knocked the strawberry drizzle out of the park.  We're talking stupid good. 

Tim's mom made these fruit cups, and yes, they were as refreshing as they look. 

Bean and salsa dip, hummus, cheese and grapes arranged in a pretty sunflower

I'm hoping to get a few more pics from Carolyn that I wasn't able to capture before the guests arrived.  The Pimm's Cup turned out even better than expected, and two pitchers were gone in a jiffy.  The mason jars looked so cute arranged on the beverage table, and I've learned from now on, I need a name tag on my beverage. 

I'd say the shower was a success, and I look forward to spending my "free" time pinning ideas for a baby shower for the mother of my future niece or nephew.  Oh, this will be good!!!

Do your best, forget the rest.

To say that my first craft fair experience was a bust is a bit of an understatement.  Let's put it this way...I made one lonely little sale, and it was to an established Fancy fan who knew I'd be out there on Saturday.  And while I'm most appreciative of my solitary customer, I'm really bummed I missed out on some quality beach time with my husband and girls that morning.  I think our problem was our location.  We were with three other vendors in an area separate from all the other vendors, so no one really wandered over to us, despite our freakin' adorable set up:

Not bad for a couple of craft fair first timers, wouldn't you say?

Our booth was about 80% Me Sew Crazy, 20% Fancy, and this was my little corner of cuteness:

  

The location and height of Adler's NYC piggy attracted the smallest of the craft fair patrons.  It was the only boyish piggy bank I had on display, so I made up a few photo collages of piggies past:

I'm pretty sure not a single business card was taken from my cute little green bucket either, which was really the whole purpose of me doing this craft fair.  Even if I didn't sell much, I was hoping to get my name out there and get on people's radar for future gifts.  All I can say is oh well, I tried my best.  I spent a beautiful morning with a great lady, and even got a visit from my favorite ladies of the little variety.  I'm so glad they came to see me in action, even if I wasn't very successful.  Now I'm left to wonder, what should Fancy Fonts try next?

Project 52: Week 19 - Beach bums

Some months, I do not like my calendar one bit.  May is one of those months.  Weekdays are busy, weekends are busy, it's go go go.  Another thing I don't like about my May calendar are the five little words that appear on the 23rd - "Brynn's last day of school."  WHAT?!?!  I'm not even going to get into the emotional issues I have with May 23rd.  I get a little choked up just thinking about watching Brynn up there on stage for the last time at Kids of Grace.  I just want to know a few things.  Like, where did this school year go?  How is she done already?  What am I going to do with BOTH of my kids up my ass for three hot, sticky months?  

Answer:

They kept creeping closer via commando crawl to the girl with the ugly, mean, yapping chihuahua a few feet ahead of them.  It was pretty cute.  The kids, not the rat this chick was trying to pass off as a dog.

Bright lights, pig city

 Typically, when people order piggy banks, they give me a specific idea for the design...a favorite stuffed animal, tv show, superhero, or even just a pattern on some crib sheets. Some of my most challenging piggies have been for customers who give me nothing to go on, and they're also the most rewarding to me.  

Maybe it's because I had just finished a few beachy piggy banks and was bored with the theme, or maybe I just had a hard time visualizing a beachy piggy in a Brooklyn apartment.  For Adler's piggy, I decided to start with some subway letters and see where it took me.  Throw in some graphic lines to represent the NYC subway map, a Yankees logo, and some classic NYC landmarks, and you've got yourself a certified city swine.

And no, the Statue of Liberty will not be getting a face.  She'll thank me, I promise.

After Adler's piggy joins a few others on display at this weekend's craft fair, I'll ship him off to Brooklyn.  Hang tight, little buddy...you can start saving your pennies soon!

Project 52: Week 18 - When you're strange

One can use a variety of adjectives to describe my children, but dull is not one of them.  Lacking in personality they are not.  I love observing how completely different these two girls are, despite their similar exteriors.  Brynn shows her excitement rather quietly, while Camryn is known to go...ummmm, how you say...ape shit?  Most days, Brynn is happy to allow me to choose her outfit, while Camryn will stand in front of her closet, shaking her head as I pull dress after dress from the rack, trying to win her approval and move the heck on with our day (and just FYI, when buying dresses for Camryn, they must "spin."  Consider yourself warned).  Brynn avoids drama, while Camryn stirs the pot.  Fascinating, I tell you.  

I love when I can catch their little quirks with my camera.  I look through my pictures every now and then and just think, "These kids are so weird!"  And I love it.  Exhibit A shows what Brynn feels are essential items for her backpack on a Monday morning:

Count 'em.  Not one, but two sets of fake teeth.  Why???

Exhibit B shows a playtime example of what getting Camryn dressed in the morning is like:

Apparently the costume she really wanted was at the bottom of the toy box.  And how delicious is that baby belly?!

So don't let their little cherub faces and gleaming halos fool you...

...these kids are total wack jobs!

A piggy for my nugget

Two Fancy posts in a row...yay for me!  If you follow me on Facebook, you may have read that I will be making my craft fair debut at the Virginia Beach Farmers' Market on Saturday, May 12th.  I'll be teaming up with Jessica from Me Sew Crazy, sharing a booth and some friendly conversation while we make the world Sew Crazy Fancy, one kid at a time!  Jessica will have lots of gorgeous, boutique-quality children's clothing and accessories up for sale, and due to the customized nature of my work, I will have a few fan favorites on display and will mainly be taking orders for Fancy stuff.

In order to have a solid display at the craft fair, I figured now was as good a time as any to finally make a piggy bank for Camryn.  Seems I work well under pressure, as I completed Brynn's piggy bank with hours to spare before my first open house last fall!  The timing was perfect...I had a really busy day with the kids, and wanted to sit on the couch with a glass of wine and watch some playoff hockey.  Why not do that with a piggy on my lap?  

Turns out, Camryn's piggy bank gave me just about as much trouble as its namesake!  Somehow, Camryn's name ended up being more than a little crooked, and unlike the Christmas ornaments that allow me to simply wipe the paint off with nail polish remover and start over, piggy banks aren't as forgiving.  The nail polish remover basically just smudges the paint and removes the glossy finish, creating a big mess instead of erasing one.  I was able to work on the letters for a while to make it less ridiculously crooked, and I'm loving how the rest turned out to coordinate with the decor of Camryn's bedroom.  First, the inspiration:

By the way, I'm so glad I got this bedding when I did because it is nowhere to be found now.  Nowhere.  Not even eBay.  I don't get it!

Anyhoo, here's how Camryn's piggy turned out:

I don't have paint pens in the color pinks I needed for an exact match, so I improvised and added a little yellow to the seahorse.   

Now all the kid needs are a few non-essentials for her room like, you know, a headboard, nightstand, the pictures I made almost a year ago to be hung up on her walls.  That kind of thing.  All I can say is this kid better start filling that piggy bank...she's got exquisite taste in dresses!

Large piggy banks like Camryn's are available for purchase for $28 (yup, I've raised my prices a teeny bit, but they're still lower than most!), while medium piggies are still $15.  Email me at karen.psimas@yahoo.com or find me on Facebook to place an order.  Oh, and PS - trying to think of a May special as we speak!